And the sad thing is that the number was probably smaller in reality - I think they count all season tickets regardless of whether they turn up or not (not that there will be many of them this season), and they always give away loads of tickets to kids.

1 - we've traditionally probably averaged around 3.5k per game over the years, so hardly big crowds historically

2 - we have been utter garbage this year

3 - professional rugby in Edinburgh - and Scotland generally - is still very much 2nd best to football. Hiibs and Hearts will get 16-18k at the weekend

4 - there are a lot of fair weather fans in Edinburgh. If the team are performing well and it is nice weather they will turn up. If we are doing badly or the weather is poor there is an easy excuse for them not to go to the game. We can't do much about the weather but as Glasgow have shown if you are performing well then the crowds will come whatever the weather

5 - Edinburgh games at Murrafield aren't an overly thrilling way to spend your evening currently, especially given the guff we've been putting out on the pitch and the fact that it is £20 (£25 on the day) to watch it

6 - Edinburgh Rugby marketing and match day info is pretty much non-existent, or only available if you go and look for it yourself. Most people in Edinburgh don't even know the team exists.

Last edited by RDW_Scotland on Wed Oct 05, 2016 2:34 pm; edited 1 time in total

1. Fair enough, but it's a question as to why they've been historically low.2. Ditto in Wales, for years.3. Ditto in Wales. 4. Ditto in Wales. But even when Edinburgh were doing well, your point 1 shows that crowds were low.5. I can see that, yes. Empty massive stadium and overpriced tickets = no atmosphere, so low crowd. Hopefully the ground move will help with that.

To be fair there was a time when we would regularly get over 5k to games, and we have had one off games with big crowds - in the season that we had the HK run to the semi-final we got nearly 12k for the final group game against London Irish and it was a really good atmosphere. We then got 38k for the Quarter Final against Toulouse, which was one of the best atmospheres I've ever been at, and the 1872 Cup fixtures get 20k+ crowds. For a typical Pro 12 game the average is probably 3.5k in recent years though.

The problem is there isn't a big core of Edinburgh fans that turn up every week - if we have greater success on the pitch then that will grow.

George Carlin wrote:All joking aside, it doesn't make any sense that Glasgow gets 7,000 punters every week and Edinburgh gets half of that.

I really hope that Hodge just throws off the shackles and uses this season to try some stuff out.

100 % to do with club loyalties, this weekend 3 of the 5 games in the Scottish BT Premiership are in Edinburgh with Currie playing away in the borders which would be seen as edinburgh territory in my opinion. Whereas there is no Premiership game in Glasgow. I'm not trying to Weegie bash as I would love their team at the moment but their lack of rugby heritage has probably helped them adapt to the professional set up, they now have an identity and are probably engaging new supporters. Whereas Edinburgh fans such as myself would probably rather support a local amatuer club with young local even pro players playing for them as opposed to paying £20 to the institution which is the SRU and stand in a lifeless stadium to watch players which were playing for club sides the previous weeks. Although the national league games don't get large crowds the interest filters down the leagues, at my club you will hear people talking about the other results locally and less about edinburgh results etc

But after saying all that when you get the results the crowds follow e.g. 38 k vs Toulouse, the Glasgow crowds at firhill weren't fantastic when they were down the bottom of the league. Hopefully Edinburgh's move away from Murrayfield and a new coach willing to play attacking rugby will see a steady rise in crowds. Although I can't criticise as I have yet to be at an Edinburgh game this season !

Acting Head Coach Duncan Hodge has named five personnel changes to his starting side for tomorrow’s Guinness PRO12 encounter with Treviso at BT Murrayfield (kick-off 7.35pm) – live on BBC ALBA.

Prop Rory Sutherland will make his 50th Edinburgh Rugby appearance and will lead the team out tomorrow night to mark the occasion.

In the backs, 19-year-old Blair Kinghorn will make his first start of the season at full-back, while wing Tom Brown returns from the groin injury which ruled him out of last week’s match-day squad.

Two of the three changes in the forward pack come in the back-row where Hamish Watson is promoted from the bench to start at openside flanker, while Nasi Manu returns to fitness to feature in his first game since the season opener in Cardiff.

The final change is in the front-row where prop Ewan McQuillin will start at tighthead prop.

As part of the partnership agreement between Scottish Rugby and London Scottish, McQuillin travels north to join Edinburgh Rugby on a temporary basis, while Nick Beavon heads south to stake his claim for game-time with the Richmond outfit in the English Championship.

BT Sport Scottish Rugby Academy prop Murray McCallum is included on the bench, and will debut for the club if he takes to the field.

Hodge said:

“It’s been a difficult week with changes being brought in on a number of levels, but the players have been extremely positive in their reaction and trained well this week.

“Technical aspects of the game let us down last week but our desire and commitment was outstanding. We have looked to address the technicalities in training and hope to see an improvement in what is a huge game for the club on Friday.”

He continued:

“Treviso are a strong outfit and will pose a tough challenge but we’re looking forward to getting back in front of a home crowd at BT Murrayfield and putting in a big performance for our supporters.

“We see this game as a chance to get back to winning ways before we head into the first rounds of European rugby.”

Incoming Kinghorn and Brown will be joined in the back-three by Damien Hoyland, who dotted down twice to score in his previous run-out against Treviso.

To accommodate for Brown’s inclusion, Michael Allen – who has scored in three of his four appearances this season – moves to outside-centre, with Chris Dean also shuffling infield to don the number 12 jersey.

Sean Kennedy and Jason Tovey remain as the half-back pairing.

Club stalwart Ross Ford joins Sutherland and McQuillin in the front-row, while captain Grant Gilchrist and Ben Toolis continue at lock

Bloody unlucky to lose Nel, Berghan and Bryce at the same time, but I suppose players like McQullin and Beavon will only get better the more they play. I still think Edinburgh need to break the bank to keep Nel though. Class tightheads are worth their weight in gold.

nickj wrote:Bloody unlucky to lose Nel, Berghan and Bryce at the same time, but I suppose players like McQullin and Beavon will only get better the more they play. I still think Edinburgh need to break the bank to keep Nel though. Class tightheads are worth their weight in gold.

Well Nel is 120kg apparently and Google says gold is currently $40.82 per gram, so he would be worth $4.9M!

nickj wrote:Bloody unlucky to lose Nel, Berghan and Bryce at the same time, but I suppose players like McQullin and Beavon will only get better the more they play. I still think Edinburgh need to break the bank to keep Nel though. Class tightheads are worth their weight in gold.

Well Nel is 120kg apparently and Google says gold is currently $40.82 per gram, so he would be worth $4.9M!

nickj wrote:They 'Treviso'? or they 'Edinburgh'? I think Treviso are in the minnows cup this year? With La Rochelle first up? Have Edinburgh got Timisoara Saracens?

That's a good point - I think Zebre are the preverbial lambs to slaughter this year

nickj wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:

nickj wrote:Bloody unlucky to lose Nel, Berghan and Bryce at the same time, but I suppose players like McQullin and Beavon will only get better the more they play. I still think Edinburgh need to break the bank to keep Nel though. Class tightheads are worth their weight in gold.

Well Nel is 120kg apparently and Google says gold is currently $40.82 per gram, so he would be worth $4.9M!

nickj wrote:Bloody unlucky to lose Nel, Berghan and Bryce at the same time, but I suppose players like McQullin and Beavon will only get better the more they play. I still think Edinburgh need to break the bank to keep Nel though. Class tightheads are worth their weight in gold.

Well Nel is 120kg apparently and Google says gold is currently $40.82 per gram, so he would be worth $4.9M!

And you suggested I stalked Nel. You know his weight and how much that relates to in gold. That's a whole new level of stalking

Hazel Sapling wrote:Was Murray McCallum the tighthead or the loosehead from the U20s?

Murray McCallum was the loosehead for the U20s. Normally plays loosehead for Heriots as well. Not sure I have ever seen him listed at tighthead before. Very promising Prop but a tough ask for him if he is going to be the tighthead cover.

I think Dell will cover tighthead as he has done it before right? McCallum will make pro debut in his favoured position. Is Cosgrove healthy? Surprised he did not get first call after spending time at LS last year.

Good to see Kinghorn get a start and would prefer Tofilau or Rasolea at 13 ahead of Allen. Scholes still missing. What has he done?

Like the back row. 2 big ball carriers to for the hard yards and Watson to provide the energy. Hardie will do the same once he is on.

BigGee wrote:Pleased to see Mc Quillan get his chance, he had a good game for LS against Cornish Pirates last weekend. The scrum was definitely going backwards until he came on.

Beavon will do well to get a few games with LS to see how he will cope at the higher level. It would have been throwing him to the wolves to have chucked him straight into the Pro 12.

Good thing we've got an academy prop covering the wrong side of the scrum then...

Surely Dell will cover the TH side? Maccullum is an LH I think, he had a pretty good JWC from what I remember. I don't imagine McQuillan is an 80 minute player, but hopefully he will last longer than Bryce did!

McCallum will cover tighthead on the bench despite having played most of his rugby at loosehead. “I’ve seen a fair bit of Murray in the last few years playing for the under-20s and Heriot’s, and it’s great for him to get some exposure,” said Hodge of the 20-year-old who will make his pro debut if he comes off the bench. “He’s played a lot of his rugby at loosehead, but we are looking for him to play more and more at tighthead, so that will be good for him to be exposed to that this weekend and hopefully in the next couple of weeks as well.”

Now all we need is to avoid our traditional route of disappearing up our own arse and surrendering our half time lead to lose by 3 points with 78 minutes on the clock and then concede an 80th minute score to make things look a lot worse than they actually were.